Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy All Hallows Eve to all my friends and fans! May your night be filled with Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies!

Here's a history lesson for everyone!

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

Halloween Comes to America

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.

Today's Halloween Traditions

The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.
The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.
But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.) Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands' initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands' faces. Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.
Of course, whether we're asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same "spirits" whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

When I started reading Paranormal romance, I kept it to myself. No way did I want people to think I was one of "those women" who read the steamy romance novels and fantasized about forbidden intimate encounters with strangers!

But then I started to read books like Jennifer Ashley's Pride Mates, and Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series. And what I found was intense relationships between a monogamous couple and I was intrigued. I found them to be intimate on a new level. Not just in the bedroom, but also in the progression of their relationship with each other.

So, naturally, I started writing Paranormal Romance. As I did, I found that mine too centered around a monogamous couple, or at least a couple fighting to be together. However, I also found that I am an action gal at heart. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer who kicks butt daily. I love Selene in Underworld and Blade from the Blade Trilogy. All butt kickers and action! So my Paranormal Romances are coupled with lots of action. Why? Because quite honestly I cannot stand a slow book. I like the books I read to have a purpose outside of the Romance. Outside of our own relationships, there is always other stuff going on. So I want there to be those outside influences in my books. Ones that threaten to tear my couples apart, but through their love they are able to endure and become stronger for it. Yes, I have taken that from my own relationship with my husband of 14 years. We have gone through a lot of crap together in 14 years, but we are stronger for it as a couple.

Because of this I think my books will appeal not just to women but to men as well. And yes I do believe men should read Paranormal Romance books. Strange as it sounds. So does Paul Goat Allen.

Yesterday he wrote an awesome article on Barnes and Noble.com about why men should read Paranormal Romance. He talks specifically about Jennifer Ashley's books. And I absolutely agree with him. Here are three reasons he gives as to why men should read Paranormal Romance:

1. Believe in true, everlasting love. In this series, Shifters experience a mate bond with their lovers, a “magical binding between true mates” that is all encompassing – body and soul – and lasts until death.

2. Aspire to be the perfect catch. In Mate Claimed, Eric is described as “strong, powerful, gentle, and protective. The perfect catch.” These Shifter characters are obviously extraordinary physical specimens but the physical aspect is only part of it. They’re understanding, caring, supportive, and sensitive to their lover’s every need.

3. Find passion in your life. Ashley’s male Shifter leads are, above all else, passionate. Passionate about their lives, their families, their causes, and their lovers. At one point early on in Mate Claimed, Eric tells Iona: “When we make love, it will be like the world exploded.” Enough said.

Maybe I’m completely wrong about this but I firmly believe that men who regularly read paranormal romance will ultimately find themselves better off for it.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

I have never really thought of writing as my job. I am a mom, and have always seen that as my "job" and writing as my outlet.

Because it is my outlet I have gone along for the last couple of years, writing when I feel like it, stopping when I don't. Moving from project to project working here and there. As a result, I have 3 finished novels, 1 half finished novel, 1 almost finished novel, 2 half finished screenplays, 1 finished short screenplay, 1 half finished web series and 10 not even begun novels. All in all I think I have done a lot in the last three years. But I am at the point where I feel I need to be doing more to finish my works and get them out there.

This webseries has been a real eye opener to me. I never once thought of actually sitting down and figuring out a Business Plan for me as a writer. But Denise so nicely lays out what to do and where to get the information, that I am seriously considering writing a Business Plan for my writing. Not just so I can have a goal of what I need to be focusing on, but so I can start taking my writing to the next level and get it from the "Outlet" point to the actual "profession" point.

I am still a mother first and foremost, but I also have come to the realization that I need to be a writer as well. I have so many ideas, stories, characters and places running around in my head that are begging to be put down on paper, that I have to do them the justice of giving them life.

I am what I consider a creative type. I am disorganized to the outside observer, flighty, moving from thing to thing and place to place often, eccentric, and loud. But I need to also rein myself in and start to focus and get a plan together so I can get more finished on a yearly basis.